About the author: Rand Ragusa is co-founder and SVP of Business Development of Better Day™ Health, which is transforming clinical documentation for providers. He recently attended the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Orlando.
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More than 38,000 people with a common interest in healthcare information technology came together in Orlando at the end of February for the annual Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference. Key themes among this year’s leading vendors included mobile applications, population health management and achieving greater interoperability across the industry.
The Better Day™ Health kiosk, located within the Qualcomm Life partner pavilion, was busy each day. Whether it was an industry analyst, venture capitalist or a representative of a major health system, every visitor wanted to learn more about the company’s web-based technologies and how they enhance operations and care delivery.
Former New Orleanian, the new National Coordinator for Health IT, Karen DeSalvo, M.D. spoke about the importance of secure data exchange among healthcare providers, including those using different electronic health record platforms in multiple locations, to ensure patients are engaged in their care, and to ensure there’s a way for healthcare organizations to easily capture and share patient information. “Health IT is really about people, not technology. It’s about improving the lives of the American people (including doctors),” said Dr. DeSalvo, “We have many challenges to overcome with usability of EHR products and user interfaces,” she noted.
HIMSS14 emphasized the importance of giving a “voice” to the consumers, and those voices were heard loud and clear on Twitter. More than 60,000 tweets utilized the #HIMSS14 hashtag during the conference, allowing everyone, even those attending remotely, to participate in the HIMSS conversation. As a first time exhibitor, it was great having company friends like Dr. Nick van Terheyden, CMIO at Nuance Healthcare (tweet) and New Orleans health IT guru Molly Oehmichen (tweet) offer shout-outs of support.
Next year HIMSS will be held in Chicago, April 12-16, and we look forward to representing the New Orleans digital health community once again. To join the local conversation, attend Health 2.0 – New Orleans meetings and connect with others who share a common interest in healthcare technology and transformation.